Diplomatic thunderbolt 75 years ago this weekend

Late in the evening of August 23, 1939, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, seated in Moscow in the presence of Joseph Stalin, signed the Soviet-Nazi Non-aggression treaty.

This formal agreement between two theoretically mortal enemies opened the way for Hitler to invade Poland a week later, which began World War II. The public pact also included secret terms under which the two totalitarian powers divided the spoils of east-central Europe between themselves.